The one exercise you should be doing
Do you want to live a longer, healthier life? What about developing the mobility and strength to do whatever you want for the rest of your life? Do you want a great butt? Then I implore you to try the squat.
I know it can be intimidating to try a new exercise, especially in a gym as busy as Ian Stewart, but I am going to try to give you the knowledge to at least give it a shot.
The squat is a basic exercise and every athlete has used it to improve strength, mobility, power and body composition. The squat should be the first thing any novice learns, but because it is somewhat difficult to learn technically it is most often forgotten for free weights or machines.
The squat works your whole body. I’m not going to go into other reasons why you should squat (because there are tons), but if you want to read more about the squat and basic strength movements I suggest you check out “Starting Strength” by Mark Rippetoe.
First, to do a squat you must have good hip flexibility, so the first thing to work on is this stretch. Squat down and but your hands in a prayer configuration while pressing your knees out with your elbows. Keep your back straight by keeping your butt out and make sure your body weight is on your mid foot (although, as a beginner, it is easier to think of putting the weight on your heels). If your hip mobility is poor, look up some hip mobility drills you like and include them in a dynamic warmup before squatting.
Before squatting, set up the squat rack to your desired height and the safety bars to just below your lowest squat depth. The height should be low enough so you have to dip down a bit to pick up the bar with your back. I’m now going to go into a step-by-step approach to the proper basic technique. Use an unloaded bar! The yellow bars are 25 pounds and all the other ones are 45. If the yellow bar is too heavy then use the black rubber ones with the purple or red ends.
1. Grip the bar equal distance apart with your thumbs on the same side as your fingers and your palms pressed into the bar.
2. Duck your head under the bar and pick it up with your back. The correct bar position is just below your traps (trapezii) on your rear deltoids as shown here:
3. Okay, back up from the rack by a couple of small steps and check your foot positioning. Your heels should be slightly outside of shoulder width and your toes at a 30 degree angle from vertical.
4. Now you’re ready to squat. Try to think about a couple of things. Lower your butt and hips while keeping your knees out and the weight on your heels (make sure your heels do not come off the floor!). Your knees and legs should be in line with the position of your feet on the floor, so push your knees out just like the stretch we did and don’t let your knees go beyond your toes. The bar should follow a straight line up and down. Keep your eyes looking at the floor about 6-8 feet in front of you (neutral position).
5. You want everything to be tight (like your back and core). Breath holding for each rep is what you want to do. So hold your breath on the way up and down (this creates pressure in your thoracic cavity and keeps everything tight) to avoid injury.
6. Make sure your depth is below parallel for every repetition (your thighs need to be horizontally parallel to the floor).
This is really scraping the surface of squat technique, but I encourage you to go out and work on this technique. Just do the bar for 3 sets of 10 reps, 3 days a week. As you feel more comfortable, start with warm up sets of the bar then add 2.5-5 pounds a side each time you squat. Do not count warm up sets as part of the 3 sets of 10 reps. Get your body used to it. There is no need to rush. Fitness is a marathon not a sprint.
As you progress, use a linear progression model. Every workout, try to add a little bit more weight (go up by 2.5 lbs a side). Fitness is like tanning, your body adapts to the stress you put on it. If you tan, you need to increase the amount of minutes of sun exposure to get a darker pigment. In fitness, you need to increase the amount of stress to initiate a change.
I work out 2-3 days a week and I squat every time I go to the gym. I am encouraged that more females are squatting in the gym. It is a great exercise, so get out and try it!
If this post proves to be popular, I will write more posts on some of the other great exercises you should know. Until then …just squat!
*Special thanks to 4th year biology student Amy for modeling.
What’s hot this week?
Superbowl baby! I’m cheering for the Seahawks obviously, but if you asked me who I would rather hang out with? Give me Brady and Gronk any day of the week! Ughhh but I have a midterm Monday and Wednesday. What kind of teacher schedules a midterm on the Monday after the Superbowl? Go Hawks!
